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A day in the life of: A Graphic Design student

Everyone struggles getting out of bed, some more than others but when winter rolls along your bed just seems a little comfier, warmer and harder to get out especially when you wake up at 5:25am with a little dog trying to get more into the pillows than she already is.

I live 40 minutes away from university, so the reason why I get up this early is to get washed, dressed and get ready to slay the day before I have to walk down to the bus stop at 07:10am. From my house to the bus stop takes twenty minutes from the top of the mountain to a little village outside of Bala. Usually round this time I either chat to my friends who are going to Coleg Cambria or have my headphones in and do some work on the bus before I head to Regent Street.

At the moment, as soon as I reach Wrexham, I go straight into Waterworld to go swimming or to the gym for an hour before classes start; it’s officially a year till I graduate and I’m currently on a mission. ‘Operation graduation’ is truly on the go, meaning I dumped the chocolate (my favourite thing in the whole wide world) for yoghurts (which is not so bad, I have to admit, but for a chocoholic this is a bit of a new territory). At around 10am I have some breakfast at my desk and get ready to start the day in SCA (School of Creative Arts).

I’m in my third year, so I have a negotiated studies brief along with my dissertation. I’ll work on this throughout the day, getting tutor feedback and critiques about how to make my work stand out even more. I remember having my first critique and I cried because I took it personally (even when the lectures say do not take it personally), but after a while, you realise it’s there to help you.

At this very moment, I have loads of negotiated studies that I have chosen where my specialised area is on that I haven’t still figured out what my chosen area is. I decided to do different things such as a story board for an app to reduce and restrict drivers on their phone then the next project is that we have Wrexham symphony orchestra, a live client, to brand their concert in February 2018 at “A Night at the Opera” so these posters will be all around Wrexham to advertise their event. There’s also a load of different projects dotted around such as a publication for our dissertation and then a RSA competition briefs about ‘sleep matters’. Usually in the morning I spilt the projects so each brief as some progress of development.

We’re usually in three times a week, so my time table looks something like this:

Monday

Morning - “A night at the opera” brief

Afternoon - Dissertation Publication

Tuesday

Morning - RSA competition brief

Afternoon - Drive Aware App

Thursday

Morning - A night at the Opera information and feedback by Wrexham Symphony Orchestra

Evening – Extra time to work on whichever project needs it

It’s very important when you’re in university to be strict yourself when it comes to working on a brief or an assignment because the last thing you want to be is getting behind.

Lunch is usually 12 - 1pm, but if I’m telling the truth I finish dinner at 12:20pm to then get back to my work (I can be too strict on myself sometimes!) or if my friends are around in the building I try to find them and eat my lunch with them.

When it’s time to go back to work, I see what’s on the timetable and get back to it. Just recently we had a meeting with the Vice Chancellor Maria Hinfelaar about our brief for Wrexham Symphony Orchestra, which was super amazing but at the same time very nerve wracking.

Afterwards, I head for the bus back home to Bala. Again, I either get a book, do some work or just generally listen to the soothing music. Twice a week after uni, I go to my cleaning job Mold, so I won’t be home until after 6pm or 7pm. At home, I get my stuff that I have done during the day to carry on with or do my dissertation ready for my next dyslexia help or academic studies sessions to make sure I ace it.

When everything’s done for the day, I get into the shower, into my pyjamas and have some dinner. I then make sure I’ve got my stuff ready for the next day. Then… I relax. I’m trying not to be distracted by university work, phone or any gadgets so I like getting stuck into a good book. I end up in bed surrounding 9:30pm to 10pm according to my sleep tracker.

And that’s my day really!

If there is one tip I can give you to help manage your time within your daily rituals of university life, it's get a calendar/dairy! Organise your life! Most laptops, phones and other handheld devices have a calendar. University can be exhausting but if you have planned the best you can; it's going to be so much easier!

Hope you all enjoyed reading t-t-f-n, ta ta for now.

About the author

Alexandra Layla

Alexandra is a second year student here at Wrexham Glyndwr University. She studies Graphic Design.